PGA TOUR’s New CEO Gives Disappointing Update on LIV Golf Negotiations

The PGA TOUR’s new CEO, Brian Rolapp, gave a disappointing update on the organization’s negotiations with LIV Golf. Talks have been ongoing for years, and earlier in 2025, things seemed to be turning in a direction toward unification.

Now, things seem as bleak and unlikely as they did two years ago.

At a press conference on the eve of the first round of the TOUR Championship, Rolapp gave candid answers regarding their discussions, or lack thereof, with LIV Golf.

Rolapp said:

“I have not spoken to anyone from the Public Investment Fund. I’ve been here for three weeks, so my focus has obviously been on the TOUR and focusing on the TOUR and in learning and starting to develop a bit of a vision for the future.”

A very vague answer that danced around the issue at hand, Rolapp and other PGA TOUR brass have never been transparent about what is going on with LIV unification. But now more than ever, it seems evident that the TOUR and LIV will never become a productive conglomeration. 

The TOUR’s focus, evidently, is the TOUR.

Listening to the press conference with PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, it’s pretty obvious that a deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf (PIF) is well and truly off the table.

When asked about whether he’d had conversations with the PIF, he said:

“I have not spoken to anyone from…

— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) August 20, 2025

Rolapp continued:

“I think my primary focus is going to be on strengthening the TOUR, and blank sheet of paper means blank sheet of paper. Whatever does that, I’ll pursue aggressively. That’s how I view it.”

Regarding the strength of each league, Rolapp said:

“I would offer to you that the best collection of golfers in the world are on the PGA TOUR. I think there’s a bunch of metrics that demonstrate that, from rankings to viewership to whatever you want to pick. I’m going to lean into that and strengthen that.”

It is evident that the TOUR’s lineup of players is stronger than LIV’s, but that is not to say that LIV does not have players who would benefit the TOUR. Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Joaquin Niemann, Dustin Johnson, and Phil Mickelson still seem like draws for fans. 

Talks seem to have stagnated to the point that there is no end to division in golf in sight. Most of us could see the writing on the wall all along, but things seemed to be turning a corner earlier this year.